Using Model - Pre WWI

About Uncle Sam

James Montgomery Flagg (my Grandfather) created the original Uncle Sam "I Want You". Although most researches will refer to JMF as the model of his original Uncle Sam, nothing could be farther from the truth. My Mother tried her adult life to correct this error, and I will carry on this monumental task.

In 1916, JMF reluctantly accepted a 4th of July project by Leslie Magazine, and eventually found his Uncle Sam one rainy night on a train bound for Parris Island, where he was to unveil a portrait of the Commandant.

His "symbol of our country" was a young, roughly 17 year old, Marine, which he considered the finest branch of our armed forces. He was able to acquire a 24 hour pass for this "boot" not normally allowed off base, and he aged his model's adolescent face by forty years and turned a circus clown's costume into symbolic dignity (as told to me and written by his daughter, my mother, Faith).

This cover was eventually made into a recruiting poster, at the request of the State Dept, and is now recognized as the most famous war poster of our time.

By WWII, JMF had ironically begun to look remarkably like his original Uncle Sam, and he did indeed use his mirror image in several new posters. When FDR is quoted as saying "saving model hire" in a personal letter to JMF, he is referring to the 2nd World War posters.

Faith would say, "I thought you might find the facts more fun than the fantasies."

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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The American Dream. For most of us, it's a loving family and friends, a successful business or job, and a comfortable home. This great country of ours has provided us the means and opportunities to obtain this dream. In order to do that, a country needs to provide goods and services to generate income and the education to learn how.

These means are slipping through our fingers, and a piece by Frank J. Fleming in today's Pajamas Media hit home with his delightful wit:

Why Does Barack Obama Hate Our Economy?The president hates any system based on merit, given his singular lack of real accomplishments.

"I think it’s a question a lot of us — both right and left — are asking right now. We originally had such high hopes for President Obama. While his wife obviously hates America, not even considering liking it until it looked like her husband might get the highest job in the land, it always seemed that Barack was at least apathetic about the existence of America. While he wouldn’t shed a tear if it was destroyed, he didn’t seem to mind it being around either.

But his actions lately have shown that not to be true.

First, there was the “stimulus” in which he caused a nation in debt to spend hundreds of billions of dollars it didn’t have. And there were the bailouts to make sure failing companies stayed around to fester and bring down their industries with them. Now, there’s the cap-and-trade bill to tax energy and thus make everything more expensive right when everyone has less money. And later there will be his national health care plan to tax health care benefits and make an expensive necessity even costlier. At this point, even the most ardent Obama supporter has to admit he’s actively trying to destroy the American economy.

But why?

There are a number of right-wingers with Obama derangement syndrome who will just say, “He’s stupid and evil!” But that’s just making Obama a cartoonish villain and not even trying to understand the real reasons. Others have said that Democrats’ brains swell as they get older, and the pressure of the brain against the skull eventually causes the Democrats to snap and savagely attack the economy, but that’s an ignorant urban legend.

Still, you can understand how some people have these beliefs because it doesn’t seem like Obama has any logical reason to hate the economy so much. It would be understandable if he had some bad history with the economy and was scarred by it in the past, but Obama has pretty much had no involvement whatsoever with the economy until his presidency. He never ran a business or had any capitalist dealings besides sweet book deals his whole life. Thus, you wouldn’t expect him to hate the economy, but instead, be confused by it like a dog trying to understand a nuclear reactor. It would be understandable if, out of curiosity, he fiddled around with the economy a little, but his taking such active measures to destroy something he doesn’t understand is quite odd.

The leading theory on why Obama hates and wants to destroy the economy is its focus on merit, which is an anathema to Obama. In a capitalistic society, you need products that actually do useful things so you can sell them and make money. You can make all the claims you want, but at some point people are going to expect the product to actually do something.

That has to be a foreign concept to someone who has written multiple autobiographies before ever actually accomplishing anything. He expects people to take his word that he’s really smart and great without ever having to do anything to prove it. That doesn’t work in our economy; think of the Amazon.com reviews he’d have if he were a product. Yes, a few people would think he looked neat and preorder, but soon he’d have a bunch of one-star reviews saying, “Doesn’t actually do anything. Don’t waste trillions of dollars on it.” You can see how Obama might be angry at something that would find no value in him, like the economy.

This leads me, though, to a different theory as to why Obama wants to destroy the economy: misdirected hatred. And what does Obama hate? Himself. He thinks so little of himself that if America would want him to be its leader, then he feels America and its economy deserve to perish. Look at his tepid reaction to Iran and how he wants Zelaya reinstated in Honduras. It’s like he feels other countries deserve bad leaders just like the U.S. He treats the economy so poorly because that’s what he feels he deserves.

So what to do? We should encourage Obama to try to get some experience with the economy so he’s not so scared of it. A great idea would be for him to start a lemonade stand to learn a little about capitalism. Right out in front of the White House would be a great place for one, as there is lots of foot traffic there. Also, if you happen to pass by Obama on the street, consider giving him some words of encouragement. Pat him on the back and tell him, “I believe in you. You can do this.” If he can start to have a better opinion of himself — despite still not having actually done anything useful — maybe he can start to feel he deserves to lead a country with a healthy economy."